Rescuers tend to burnt koalas in Australia

As fires flared in the Australian state of New South Wales on Friday (November 8), carers at the mid-north coast Port Macquarie Koala Hospital continued to nurse koalas rescued from the fire zone.

Lake Innes Nature Reserve had two-thirds of its koala habitat wiped out when a fire on October 26, that was started by a lightening strike, tore through the area, and on Thursday (November 7) another fire started in the reserve, threatening the remaining koalas.

According to Koala Conservation Australia president, Sue Ashton, about 500-600 koalas lived in the Reserve but about 350 of them died in the bushfire.

Team leader and carer Amanda Gordon, who has worked at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital for 15 years, takes care of the burnt koalas in the hospital's intensive care unit, feeding them formula and leaf.

Gordon tended to her intensive care patients, Paul and Anwen, who had bandaged paws, burnt noses and singed fur.

"Sometimes koalas seem to be doing really, really well and, you know, their paws might be healing up but if something's going on that we can't see there's not really much we can do about it. But we monitor that, we look for signals of pain - teeth grinding, distress - and we just take it on a day-by-day basis essentially," Gordon said.

In the surgical unit, another koala, Odette, who came in on Thursday, had to be euthanised the next morning because of old age and chlamydia. The destruction of the marsupial's habitat helps spread chlamydia, as healthy koalas are often forced into diseased colonies.

Koalas like mother Julie and her little koala joey were brought in by rescuers because they were healthy but dangerously close to the fire zone. They will remain at the hospital until it is safe for them to leave.

Carers at the hospital estimate that it will be at least 10 days before they know the full extent of the damage to the koala population.

Until then, carers continue to treat the rescued koalas and hope the remaining ones in the Reserve have found pockets of green where they can survive until help arrives.

Australia